The present invention generally relates to moving picture editing methods and apparatus for use in producing moving picture programs such as television broadcast programs and video programs or in other video edition for business or consumers, and particularly to an editing method and apparatus for editing moving pictures by selecting icons of representing image materials that are displayed for editing on windows of a display screen under the control of a computer using necessary program software.
Recently, in cooperation with high-speed, multi-function computers, the computer software has been rapidly developed to be diversified and to have multiple functions. These computers and software products are now used in equipment for producing television broadcast programs and video programs, thus achieving multifunction edition.
Particularly in the recent program production, the edition of image information including image data and audio data makes use of a moving picture editing apparatus having an information storage unit capable of random access, such as hard disks that are easy to handle and store and inexpensive. Furthermore, the multifunctional and diverse computers and software products are employed for that edition.
There is a nonlinear editing system as an example of the moving picture editing apparatus. In this system, video materials are once stored in a disk-type storage unit capable of random access, and representative images of the image materials are read from the storage unit and displayed on the screen of the editing apparatus. The operator operates on the display screen to edit moving pictures. In this editing operation, it is necessary that moving pictures be previously stored and that the representative images and video materials be made to be associated with each other.
When a program is produced, there are a case where a program structure is already determined but video materials are not yet stored in disks, and a case where video materials are already stored in disks but which images are used is not determined. For example, in the production of a regular news program, even if the time and structure of the program are determined, the latest news images may not be gathered until the start of actual program becomes close. In that case, since the program edition cannot be started before the image materials to be used are determined, enough time cannot be consumed for the edition, or only a little time is left for edition. In addition, it is impossible to employ the way that after the construction of program is determined the image materials suitable for that program structure are gathered to produce the program.
The present invention is to provide a moving picture editing method and apparatus capable of solving the above problems, or producing a tree structure of images for a program even if the moving pictures to be edited are not stored in an information storage unit. Also, in this method and apparatus, even if the image information has been already erased from the storage unit after the end of the moving picture edition, the lost image materials can be again stored in the storage unit and edited without again generating the tree structure.
According to the present invention, there is provided a moving picture editing method and apparatus in which a moving picture fed from a video material source is edited by working on editing windows indicated on a display to divide a video material into a plurality of cut images each formed of a plurality of frame images, display the representative frame images of each of said cut images on the screen of the display, selecting the representative frame images, assembling a hierarchical structure formed of a plurality of frame images, displaying the hierarchical structure, selecting one or a plurality of the representative frame images as a scene image, incorporating the frame images representative of the scene images in the hierarchical structure, displaying a tentative indicator image capable of representing an arbitrary video material, incorporating said tentative indicator image in the hierarchical structure, and thus generating the hierarchical structure.
According to the invention, there is provided a method of displaying images of editing operations of an editing apparatus according to the invention, the method including the steps of displaying a first region for a video material and a second region for a hierarchical structure having a plurality of images of the video material in the first region on the screen of the display, displaying in the first region the frame images representative of a cut image formed of a plurality of frame images, displaying in the second region the hierarchical structure formed of a plurality of the representative frame images, and displaying a tentative indicator image capable of representing an arbitrary video material at a specified position within the hierarchical structure.
According to the invention, there is provided a computer program product that includes a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer readable program, when the program is loaded, to make the computer execute the procedure to divide a video material into a plurality of cut images each formed of a plurality of frame images, display the representative frame images of each of the cut images on the screen of the display, select the representative frame images, assemble a hierarchical structure formed of a plurality of frame images, display the hierarchical structure, select one or a plurality of the representative frame images as a scene image, incorporate the frame images representative of the scene image in the hierarchical structure, generate a tentative indicator image capable of representing an arbitrary video material, and incorporate the tentative indicator image in the hierarchical structure, thereby editing a moving picture.
Also, according to the invention, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer readable program recorded thereon where, when the medium is loaded, the program makes the computer execute the procedure to divide a video material into a plurality of cut images each formed of a plurality of frame images, display the representative frame images of each of the cut images on the screen of the display, select the representative frame images, assemble a hierarchical structure formed of a plurality of frame images, display the hierarchical structure, select one or a plurality of the representative frame images as a scene image, incorporate the frame images representative of the scene image in the hierarchical structure, generate a tentative indicator image capable of representing an arbitrary video material, and incorporate the tentative indicator image in the hierarchical structure, thereby editing a moving picture.